By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter
The youth jobless rate is expected to surpass 10 percent in the months to come, with a growing number of young jobless individuals seeking to find employment on the back of an economic recovery.
According to Statistics Korea, the jobless rate for those aged between 15 and 29 reached 9.5 percent in January, the highest in six years since February 2004, when the credit card crisis hit the nation.
The economically-active population, aged from 15 to 29, has been on an upward trend since October. After reaching 4.2 million in October, it rose to 4.4 million in January. This comes despite the fact that the total economically-active population dropped 573,000 in the same period.
Moreover, the number of newly employed young workers shifted upward by 14,000 in January, the first increase in five years since November 2004, when 9,000 got new jobs.
Analysts said that younger people are turning from despair to hope as the economic recovery has gained momentum.
"Young job seekers have increased since the fourth quarter of 2009 as they expect the job market to improve," Sohn Min-jung, an economist at the Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI), said.
However, the job market is unlikely to turn around anytime soon.
According to a Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry survey in January, among the top 500 firms by sales, 256 companies plan to hire 16,000 people this year, down 5.6 percent from 2009.
Most firms across industries plan to cut payrolls. Textile and paper companies will reduce their workforce by 33.2 percent this year, while food and beverage companies plan to slash 14 percent.
Only a few industries plan to increase their workforce. Engineering and construction plan to boost payrolls by 26.9 percent in 2010.
Experts suggested that the government beef up the nation's services sector to create more jobs for the young unemployed.
"The government needs to create jobs in the services industry. The industry has great potential to create more jobs for young workers," said Sohn.